Number Entered as Text Value in Lotus Appears As Number Value

SUMMARY

Right-aligned numbers that have been entered as text in a Lotus worksheet will appear as normal number values when viewed in Microsoft Excel. These numbers appear as normal in both the cell and the formula bar.

MORE INFORMATION

When entering numbers as text in Excel, the format ="number" is used. Lotus uses the format of 'number (number preceded by a single quotation mark) for left-aligned text numbers and uses the format of "number (number preceded by a double quotation mark) for right-aligned text numbers. These numbers are then difficult to distinguish from normal number values when viewed in Excel.

The same difficulty occurs when you choose Workspace from the Options menu and select the Alternate Navigation Keys check box in Excel, and then use Lotus methods to enter numbers into an Excel worksheet.

Alternate Navigation Keys is an option only available under Excel version 3.0.

Problems will occur when attempting to chart these "numbers." A blank chart will result. Also, if you enter a formula such as =SUM(Range) (where "Range" includes numbers entered as text), the text numbers will not be included in the total.

To determine whether numbers have been entered as text values or number values, format your numbers with General Alignment (choose Alignment from the Format menu). Right-aligned numbers are number values. Left-aligned numbers are text values.

Another way to make this determination is to select a cell in question and choose Show Info from the Window menu. Then, choose Value from the Info menu. If the number following "Value:" in the resulting dialog box is surrounded by quotation marks, it is text.

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Excel User's Guide," version 3.0, page 47